1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for storing and organizing dies for crimping together electrical conductors.
2. Brief Description of Prior Developments
Crimping dies are employed in the process of crimping together electrical conductors. FCI USA, Inc. sells crimping dies, including those known as “W” type dies. The “W” type dies form a general circumferential crimp around a barrel section of an electrical connector. The “W” type dies are installed primarily in what is known as an industry “D” die retaining groove. The “D” groove is common in mechanical hand held crimping tools, such as the MD6 HYTOOL™. Other crimping dies, such as “X” type dies sold by FCI USA, Inc. may also be employed with some standard mechanical hand held crimping tools, including the MD7-34R POSI-PRESS HYTOOL™. U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,030, assigned to FCI, USA, Inc., describes further crimping dies, and the contents of this patent are hereby incorporated by reference. Accordingly, various dies may be used with hand held crimping tools to produce crimps across a wide range of conductor diameters. Advantageously, conductor size can be varied by varying crimp die size. Thus, operators of hand held crimping tools will often have a number of differently sized dies with them at a work site. Further, as some dies may wear out after extended usage, and it is not uncommon for one die of a pair of matching dies to be lost, the operators may also have a number of same sized dies with them at a work site.
In view of the large number of various dies an operator may have available at any one time, there is a desire for an efficient system for storing and organizing these dies. It would further be advantageous if such a device employed standard crimping parts to store and organize the dies, which would minimize the cost of the device.